Bite-size news and insight from UK business and tech – including funding, deals and appointments
Author: Chris Maguire
Susie Ma has been described as the powerhouse behind one of the UK’s fastest-growing beauty brands.
Born in Shanghai, she spent her early years in Australia before moving to the UK.
She attended Croydon High School and was just 15 when she recreated and sold her grandma’s body scrub recipe at Greenwich Market to help her mum pay the bills.
Today, Tropic Skincare has grown into a $100m+ revenue business and has won more than 450 awards.
Ma gained national attention in 2011 when she appeared in seventh series of The Apprentice at the age of 21.
On Thursday, she’ll step into the Den when she makes her appearance as a guest Dragon on Dragons’ Den.
Author: Chris Maguire
A food startup, described as ‘the bath bomb for your saucepan’, registered six months’ sales in just two hours after their appearance on Dragons’ Den.
Tina Faghihi-Hallam and her husband Olly Hallam founded Flavour Bombs in February 2024 with just £300 and are on a mission to change the face of home cooking.
On Thursday, millions of viewers saw the couple receive offers from three Dragons – Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and guest Dragon Gary Neville.
Immediately after the show was screened Flavour Bombs saw:
- £52k sales in just two hours – the equivalent of half of all sales in 2024;
- 3,000 per cent surge in website traffic; and
- Thousands of new social media followers.
Despite zero marketing spend, Flavour Bombs surpassed £100,000 in revenue in its first year and is now targeting sales of more than £100m.
Faghihi-Hallam comes from a tech background, which included four-and-a-half years at PatSnap, while her husband is a film-maker.
On the show, they eventually accepted a £50k offer from the longest-serving Dragon, Peter Jones, for 25 per cent of the business.
NatWest has announced a major expansion of its support for UK entrepreneurs, aiming to grow the Accelerator community to 50,000 members – a five-fold increase on the 10,000 ambition set for 2025.
This step-up‑ follows a strong 2025, when the bank exceeded its ambition by growing the community to 12,000, beating in a single year the total number it had supported over the previous 10 years in total.
The announcement forms part of the bank’s new five point Growing Together plan, setting out how the bank will help build the conditions for UK-wide growth: backing powerful regions, championing mid-market companies, strengthening the country’s infrastructure and housing foundations, boosting financial confidence amongst families and young people, and supporting the innovators shaping the future economy.
Uplift360, an advanced materials start-up transforming how aerospace, defence and industrial sectors recover and reuse high-value composite waste, has closed its €7.4m seed funding round.
The round was led by Extantia, one of Europe’s leading deep tech venture funds, with significant contributions from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), Promus Ventures and Fund F.
This constitutes a significant milestone for deep-tech dual-use investments in advanced material resilience. Advanced materials like carbon fibre and aramids underpin defence, aerospace and manufacturing and are critical to Europe’s ability to revitalise industrial capabilities more broadly.
However, these materials currently face severe supply-chain bottlenecks due to geopolitical pressure and limited virgin fibre availability and, as they are built to last, contribute to a fast-growing global waste stream.
Uplift360 can help address this challenge through its proprietary technology, a chemical process that recovers advanced composite materials, resulting in the same quality output as inputted. Unlike recycling, Uplift360’s regeneration process is non-degenerative, giving them a true second life.
Smart Money People has announced the appointment of Peer Jelendorf as its new CEO, succeeding longstanding CEO Jacqueline Dewey, who is stepping down at the end of February after nearly six years in the role.
Jelendorf joins from savings and investment platform Moneybox, where he most recently served as head of commercial.
Founded in 2014, Surrey-headquartered Smart Money People is described as the UK’s most comprehensive review site providing deeper, more detailed insight than traditional review sites to help consumers make better financial decisions.
Bruntwood SciTech has officially submitted planning proposals for a £17m transformation of Manchester One.
The transformative project, delivered by Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G and Greater Manchester Pension Fund – combines a full refurbishment of the existing 21-storey tower with a bold four-storey extension.
It brings the total building size to 160,000 sq ft and introducing significant new amenities designed to support the health, wellbeing and productivity of the building’s business community.
Manchester One currently hosts 30 businesses across its 131,000 sq ft of space. The works will see the building reimagined as a modern, sustainable workspace while retaining and celebrating its 1960s architectural heritage.
Author: David Smith, partner, DSW Ventures
For all the discussion around the UK’s innovation economy, one reality is often missed.
Some of the most exciting, world-class technologies are emerging not from London, Oxford or Cambridge, but from universities across the North.
The real challenge is not the quality of the research. It is how that research is converted into scalable commercial ventures, and whether those businesses can stay rooted in the regions where they began.
Northern universities are producing extraordinary research. With the right mix of capital, commercial expertise and regional commitment, they can also produce the next wave of globally significant businesses, without those businesses having to leave home to succeed.
Cornwall games studio TruePlayers has completed a funding round that includes a £140,000 investment from the British Business Bank via The FSE Group.
The latest funding follows a 2022 investment made by FSE and will help the company build on its recent commercial momentum and growing interest from both gamers and new commercial channels.
Launched in 2021, TruePlayers originally focused on mobile‑first titles before pivoting to concentrate on PC and console gaming in response to market changes.
Their latest release, FireHawk FPV, is a high‑fidelity drone‑flying simulator that has already sold more than 10,000 units.
Designed with highly realistic physics and controls, the game has picked up strong community reviews and caught the attention of organisations exploring new simulation‑based training tools.
After FinTech Finseta said yesterday that CFO Judy Happe will be leaving the company, it has now appointed an interim replacement.
The foreign exchange and payments solutions company, which offers multi-currency accounts to businesses and individuals through its technology platform, said Andrew Richards would join with immediate effect.
He brings 25 years’ experience, primarily within the financial services and insurance industries. He joins Finseta after spending 12 years with Chesnara plc, a life insurance and pensions consolidator operating in the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Happe will work with him over the coming weeks to ensure an orderly handover of responsibilities. The board says it has made progress in its search for a permanent CFO.
Huddled Group plc, a circular economy eCommerce group, has received commitments for a proposed subscription of up to £730,000 of new ordinary shares in the company alongside a debt facility of up to £600,000.
Management and connected parties have committed to subscribe for up to £370,000, with existing institutional shareholders, and one new shareholder placing firm orders for £360,000.
The growing company also intends to announce a retail offer via the Winterflood Retail Access Platform to its existing shareholders on the same terms as the proposed subscription for approximately £100,000.
NuVision Biotherapies, a UK spin-out whose products speed up healing of eye conditions, has raised a further £4.8m in a funding round led by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II through its appointed fund manager Mercia Ventures, and including the University of Nottingham and Pioneer Group.
NuVision’s products harness amniotic membrane, the tissue that surrounds babies in the womb, to support wound healing after surgery and manage conditions including ulcers, burns, glaucoma and infections.
NuVision currently supplies over 160 NHS centres and private clinics in the UK, including Moorfields Eye Hospital, as well as clinics in 12 countries across Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East.
Hove business SimplyVAT has been acquired by AVASK Global Compliance in a deal that strengthens their combined position in the worldwide compliance and indirect tax sector.
Founded in 2014, SimplyVAT has grown into a global business supporting thousands of e‑commerce companies with international VAT advice.
AVASK, which has offices across the world, brings a technology-led compliance platform and expertise across a wide range of compliance products including VAT, customs, environmental taxes and international regulatory compliance.
Stockport-based accountants HURST has been acquired by PE-backed Dains Group, a fast-growing Top 30 UK accountancy and advisory firm.
Dains is a respected national group and backed by IK Partners, a leading European mid-market private equity firm.
Headquartered in the Midlands, Dains is expanding rapidly across the UK and Ireland to target the SME market.
Simon Brownbill, partner and head of practice development at HURST, said: “By joining Dains, we now have access to a broader range of expertise, deeper resources, and a growing team of over 1,000 professionals.
“This enables us to enhance our digital capabilities, broaden our service offering and accelerate our growth – while maintaining the highly personal service that defines HURST.”
Author: Jonathan Symcox
Private equity-backed Papilo has announced the strategic acquisition of Warwick-based Allwood Recycling Solutions.
Papilo, based in Manchester, is a total waste management solutions provider backed by Palatine’s Impact Fund.
The acquisition creates a combined group with over 200 employees and annual revenues of more than £60 million.
Author: Chris Maguire
UK2 Group, a global mass market web hosting and online services provider, has joined Your.Online.
Founded in 1998, the group operates a portfolio of established hosting brand UK2, Midphase, Westhost and Resell.Biz – serving businesses and individuals across the UK, the US, and international markets.
The transaction strengthens Your.Online’s position in the UK hosting market and expands its international footprint in recurring, website-presence services.
UK2 Group will continue to operate independently within Your.Online’s decentralised structure.
Leading law firm Eversheds Sutherland advised on all aspects of the transaction, which was led by Chris Archer.
Author: Chris Maguire
Premium meal prep scaleup FuelHub has announced a new partnership with City in the Community (CITC), the official charity of Manchester City.
The Warrington-based business was founded by CEO Michelle Laithwaite with her husband James, a former professional rugby league player, who serves as COO.
The partnership will offer young people who attend the CITC Soccer Schools access to healthy, nutritious meals during the school holidays.
Michelle Laithwaite said: “City in the Community shares our belief that long-term change starts with investing in young people.
“By fuelling CITC Soccer Schools for the next 12-months, we’re committing to supporting healthier habits, stronger communities and better outcomes for young people across Manchester. We’re excited about the impact we can make together.”
Soccer Schools are delivered in a host of venues around Manchester including the following: East Manchester – Connell College / City Football Academy; Moss Side/Hulme – Trinity Sports Centre; and Wythenshawe – Manchester Enterprise Academy.
Author: Jonathan Symcox
Thank you for joining us for tonight’s Dragons’ Den.
Subscribe to our newsletter to read interviews with the pitchers in the coming days on BusinessCloud.
Click below for an interview with Murad Huseynov, who won investment from Steven Bartlett on last week’s show for Mosaic Journal. He says the two haven’t met since the show was recorded in May 2025.
Or if you want to read about a pair of potential future pitchers, these two techies have turned their coffee side hustle into a national subscription business.
Author: Jonathan Symcox
That first £300 was spent on spices and other basic things. Olly built the website himself and they had hundreds of orders from their first TikTok video.
Gary is impressed that they have built a strong foundation by reinvesting back into the business.
Steven likes them but says he isn’t looking for a safe investment, but something exciting. He’s out.
Peter has been quiet but now says he is glad they want to build a big business. He says Tina is the driving force and says Olly can go back to being a cameraman! He offers the money for a third of the business so the three of them can be equal partners.
Gary undercuts him by offering all the money for 20%.
Touker also says they have something and asks Gary whether he would share and almost match Peter’s offer – £25k each for 15% each. He would.
The couple ask Peter whether he would consider lowering his ask to 25%. He would, on the condition that they go off and raise more money so his share isn’t diluted. They have a deal.
Tina is ecstatic! “She’s celebrating the idea that you’ve just sacked her husband!” Gary quips.
However Tina says in the lift that they have no idea hoiw much Olly does in the business.
Author: Jonathan Symcox
The couple are looking for £50k for 10% of the company.
They have 3.5m views on TikTok and have passed £100,000 turnover after launching in 2024.
They say it is time to scale and ramp up the marketing.
Olly works in the film industry while Tina has led global teams in tech and worked in startups so she knows that world.
“If you go flat out, you will lose £150k,” says Touker.
Have Your Say